ASHEVILLE – Earlier this week, Buncombe County Representative Tim Moffitt reacted to Asheville City Council’s decision to put a non-binding water referendum on the November ballot and posted a shocking message to the citizens of Buncombe County from his blog. His message? The state can use its virtually unlimited power to dissolve local government.

“The State does have the authority, but that doesn’t mean they should use it,” said Jane Whilden, Moffitt’s opponent in Buncombe County District 116. “Mr. Moffitt has worked closely with Henderson County and Raleigh politicians to poach our community assets and, in the case of the local water system, put it at risk for privatization. I think city water ratepayers should have the right to voice their opinion about this important issue.”

“Thus, if the General Assembly wants to create a city, county, or other local governmental unit, it is free to do so. If it wishes to abolish a local government, or to merge it with another, or to impose particular obligations on it, it has almost unlimited power to do as it chooses. In sum, North Carolina is not a ‘home rule’ state, as that term is commonly understood. Its local governments exist by legislative benevolence, not by constitutional mandate.”

“Mr. Moffitt’s threat to use his power to dissolve local government is extremely irresponsible. I think our legislature needs to be focused on what concerns our citizens, like creating jobs and improving education, not petty posturing.”

Jane Whilden is running for N.C. State House in District 116. Visit www.janeforstatehouse.com for more information about Jane and her campaign.

I think if you asked Rep. Moffitt’s constituents, – heck, even only ask the ones who voted for him: Should your legislator openly threaten to use the power in Raleigh to dissolve a 215-year-old municipality solely because he disagrees with the actions of that municipality’s current elected officials… Rep. Moffitt goes back to being Mr. Moffitt real fast.

Seems like an overreaction to me. Moffitt’s post did nothing but explain how government works in NC. He didn’t come up with the rules – he just wrote about what they are. Whilden accuses him of threatening to “dissolve local government” but I can’t find that threat in his post.

On a list of posts that has absolutely nothing else on it but his legislative ‘accomplishments’? And it’s just a coincidence that he did it within hours of City Council voting on something he bitterly opposes?

Besides, Mr. Peck up there has already claimed to be the source for the info that Moffitt posted, and if you look at the timeline of Peck’s tweets, his “research” is done in the middle of ranting at CC for their temerity of giving Asheville citizens the opportunity to vote.

Rep. Moffitt wants Asheville to think he will erase it from the map over this vote. “Bully” is the only word that applies.

On Rep. Moffitt’s legislative website (NC116.com), you will see at the bottom of the local government blog the following: “From the University of N.C.’s Chapel Hill School of government, c(circa) 2007.
Click here to read the entire report.” The blog upsetting so many people was not written by Rep. Moffitt; it consists of excerpts taken verbatim from this report. Voters need to remember that Rep. Moffitt worked hard to get bills passed that benefit the general public.

Among the bills passed into law are the following: HB925 (SL2012-11) Annexation Reform 2 which allows North Carolineans to vote on annexation after a hiatus of 53 years; HB 796 allows breweries to not only produce beer but to sell it. The passage of this law enabled 2 major breweries to come to Asheville, including Great Belgium which means more jobs for the Asheville area; HB186 established a House Select Committee to investigate the contamination of the CTS site; Rep. Moffitt also targeted funds to enable residents living close to the CTS site to receive city water; HB471 increased the number of Buncombe County Commissioners from 5 to 7 and established commission districts so that areas beyond Asheville in Buncombe County are represented after a hiatus of 24 years; and the list goes on.

Instead of paying attention to political “hay” being made of Rep. Moffitt’s blog on local government, voters should direct their attention to Rep. Moffitt’s legislative accomplishments listed on his website (NC116.com). These accomplishments speak for themelves.

Correction: The name of the beer brewing company that decided to make Asheville its home, along with another, is New Belgium Brewing. Rep. Moffitt made this possible by eliminating restrictions on the sale of beer by brewing companies through House Bill 796 that became law.

None of you Moffitt surrogates wants to explain why this educational moment appeared amongst a list of his ‘accomplishments’. You keep saying, “See it’s just excerpts from the School of Govt. on how the GA can abolish a city. Nothing to freak out about – look at this great bill about beer, Asheville!!”

Forget it. This is what this campaign has become about: The threat from Tim Moffitt to completely abolish a City government he doesn’t like. Feeble attempts to distract won’t change that.

Does any intelligent person truly believe that Rep. Tim Moffitt intends to “completely abolish a City government he doesn’t like?” If that were true, then why did he propose a bill that became law – HB796 – that removed restrictions on brewing companies from selling beer and which
was responsible for New Belgium Brewing and Sierra Nevada deciding to relocate to Asheville, making Asheville the “undisputed brewing capital of the nation.” Furthermore, even the Asheville Chamber of Commerce stated that New Belgium Brewing will bring $4,000,000 to the community and with it, hundreds of new jobs.” Asheville’s tax base will also expand exponentially with the advent of these 2 new breweries. These facts do not match up with a commenter’s analysis that Rep. Moffitt is determined to destroy the city. If readers want to learn more about Rep. Moffitt’s legislative history that benefits Asheville and Buncombe County such as HB806 which clarifies zoning laws by allowing citizens to challenge zoning changes and special uses in court for the first time, go to his website (NC116.com) and read about Rep. Moffitt’s legislative attempts to improve the lives of his constituents.

Meiling Dai – Your repeated attempts to change the subject show that this post on Rep. Moffitt’s blog is impossible to explain in any other way than as a threat. Thanks for the confirmation.

BTW, this is not new. For many years, the notion of consolidating City and County governments has been a wet dream of local right-wingers who hate the slightly left-of-center elected representatives of Asheville. Their fantasy solution has been one of eliminating the layer of government that serves the moderate-to-liberal voters of Asheville, and put us all under County control. So your pretense of “Oh, that’s crazy – nobody’s talking about abolishing the City of Asheville” isn’t really true. But until now, nobody other than cave dwellers have seriously proposed it, and nobody would’ve proposed using the State power in Raleigh to force a shutdown of Asheville, as Tim appears to suggest here.

Did you know that the General Assembly can repeal existing annexations?

That authority is granted by the North Carolina State Constitution.

NORTH CAROLINA STATE CONSTITUTION: ARTICLE VII. LOCAL GOVERNMENT: SECTION 1. General Assembly to provide for local government. “The General Assembly shall provide for the organization and government and the fixing of boundaries of counties, cities and towns, and other governmental subdivisions, and, except as otherwise prohibited by this Constitution, may give such powers and duties to counties, cities and towns, and other governmental subdivisions as it may deem advisable.”